Drawstring bag manufacture



March 27, 1951 J. ABLER DRAWSTRING BAG MANUFACTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 29, 1948 INVENTOR. Julius abler BY zwfw uw' w-WM March 27, 1951 J. ABLER DRAWSTRING BAG MANUFACTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 29, 1948 INVENTOR. Julius (lbler BY La 1M i atenteci Mar. 27, 195i UNITE-D STATE-s PATENT GFFl-CE c, DRAWS R'ING' AG MlmUFAcTUita I Julius A bler halfto Abel EngelmamChicago Ill. h N Applicants sep'te br 29, 194 Serial No; 51",s"0'9 7 Claims. (01. 15341)" My invention relates" to the manufacture of drawstring bags; 7.

Generally speaking, the manufacture'of drawstring'bags heretofore has entailed a'substantial amount of hand'labor, particularly with respect to the placement and arrangement of the drawstring in proper positioninithe hem adjacent the mouthof the bag. While suggestions have heretofo're beenmade'for the placement or insertion of 'the'draw'string 'inthe hem by various mechanical means; noneof them, so far as I'arn aware, hasadequately met the problem. Such mechanisms or procedures which have heretofore been proposed have-been characterizedby relatively great complexity and expense orithey have not proven satisfactory in'actuali practice. of previously suggested practices are those disclosedin U. S. Patents'Nos. 1,861,864; 1,920,822; 1,920,823 and 1,920,824. V

I-have evolved a new'andhighly advantageous method for manufacturing drawstring": bags which is simple to carry out, utilizes existing and standard sewing" mechanisms, and enables the production of such bags to be accomplished "in large quantities per unit of time and with little manual labor. V

In general, in accordance with my invention a row of relatively closely spaced ravelable loops' of string is formed in a web'of fabric'or other suitable materiahmost desirably'near an edge: of said web, the material is then folded'over adjacent said row of loops to form a hem, and'the hem is sewed whereby to leave said row of loops protruding outside said hem with the connecting portions of string forming said loops being inside said hem. The material is then cut into the desired lengths for making saidlbagS and,

due to the relatively close spacing of the loops,

eachof such lengths has a substantial number of "said loops. The sewing'of the bags is then completed in accordance with usual practice as,,

within the hem, and the extra lengthof string,

resulting from straightening said loops extends outsidethe bag.

I 'haveroimd it to be especially advantageous 9m. the tev lehlel swps th jlls ngpfitandard unconventional sewing machines modified only narylchain stitch sewingmachine, for example, a

. elimina'tingthebobbin string. In an .oyercastingi.machine,v as,.-.for. example, a....Merrow "-or' Union special? overcaster, the result is obtaineding machine modifiedin' use as described-above.

Typical mentarily,.ad'diiferent type of sewing machine,

Union Special..machine of. this..type,.by elimihating the. stringirom the .looperv In certain lock. stitchrsewingn machines, such. as certain Singer. machines, .the .result is achievedby byeliminatiimg .thev stringirom the loopers. I prefer .to. .use thesingle needlechain stitch sew- The invention will be clearly understood in the light. of. the. drawings'and the accompanying description wherein:. Y

., Fig; .1 shows i a piece-of bag fabric before-any sewing operations have been performed thereon;

.Fig'. :2 showsa piece of thebag fabric after theinitiaL sewing. operation,= the spaced loops of;

string. shown protruding fromone side of the fabric near. an edge thereof c-Fig.-.3 Fia' -ZZ Figg 'shows the' piece' of bag fabric after the second sewing operationwherein a part of the fabricisl' bent bac'l; to form ahem and the hem is' sewedl the spaced loops of string appearing preferably at'or close to theedge;

Fig'ffi showsafini shed drawstring bag in open position but prior to the operation of pulling the loops through thehem;

Fig. '6 :shcwsithefinished drawstring bag in.

open A position; but aiter the, loops have been un-. ravelled or straightened 'by'bein g pulled through Fig.7 *is' a side elevational view showing, fragm entarily, one conventionaltype of singlelneedle 1% YSPitQh. ewine' machine which has e ed,only tothe egtenfith at use} the locper v sti 1g '0 hep-formingniehamsm string is not utilized the line d iiof Fig; 7 looking in the direction of the jar ows;

lfig sl. 9 and lqilare fragrnentaryyiews, partlyv 111 53fil lshowing dif erent positionsof the sew,

Fig, llisa sidelelevationalviewshowing, frag-' namely, a lock stitch machine which has been shows the reverse side of the fabric of 3 modified only to the extent that the bobbin string is not utilized; and

Fig. 12 is an enlarged view showing the formation of the loops of string.

A drawstring bag, at various stages of its production pursuant to the present invention, is shown more particularly in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive.

Numeral l is a piece of fabric before any operations have been performed thereon and may comprise ordinary bag making fabrics or suitable types of paper or the like. The initial sewing operation serves to form a row of ravelable loop portions of string 2, preferably near an edge 3 of the fabric. The loop portions 2 comprise closely spaced loops proper l'protruding on one side of the fabric and connected to each other on the other side of the fabric by connecting portions 6 of said string. At this stage, it is clear that the loops of string may be unravelled and removed from the fabric simply by pulling on an end thereof. Numeral I shows the hem, which is formed by turning down or folding over the material adjacent the row of loops and sewing the same by stitching 8, leaving the loops proper t protruding outside the hem and near the edge of the hemmed material with the connecting portions 6 now inside the hem. As I have stated above, the loops are, in general, relatively closely spaced. In the usual case, from about 3 to about 8 of such loops per linear inch is satisfactory and, in most instances, I find that from 5 to '7 loops per linear inch gives excellent results.

After the operations have been performed as described above so as to convert the fabric to the form shown in Fig. 4, the web of fabric is cut and sewed in accordance with conventional practices to form the bag l3. This may be done by folding the fabric and sewing the two open sides or, as shown, by sewing along the side edges 9 and l! and the bottom l2. The two free ends l4 and H5 or the loops 4 are then grasped by the fingers and pulled with the result that the loops are unravelled or straightened, the string which formed the loops becomes enclosed within the hem, and the extra length of string resulting from straightening said loops extends outside the hem. It will be noted that, as the loops 4 are unravelled or straightened and the string passes into the hem, a double row of apertures I1 and I8 is left in the fabric. These apertures 11 and I8, through which the string of the loops 4 originally passed, are not substantially larger than double the diameter of the string.

In Figs. 7 to 12, inclusive, I show conventional sewing machines which may be utilized in forming the ravelable loops 4 of string in the web of fabric. Since such sewing machines are well known in the art, I have shown them only fragmentarily.

Referring to Figs. 7 to 10, inclusive, there is shown a single needle chain stitch machine of the type known in the trade as a Union Special machine. It includes, mounted upon a frame, a rocker arm 2! which supports a feed dog 22 operated through a cam 23, a looper arm 24 carrying a looper 25, all below the throat plate 26. Mounted above the throat plate is the usual presser foot shaft 21 which carries the presser foot 23, and the needle shaft 29 which carries the needle 3|. ByeIiminating the string from the looper, and utilizing the string only on the needle, it will be seen that the eifect of the sewing operation on a piece of fabric is to form incomplete chain stitches in the form of ravelable loops. In

4 I Figs. 9 and 10, two different positions of the needle 3! and looper 25 are shown, the needle being left unthreaded only for purposes of clarity of illustration, Fig. 10 showing the manner in which the looper functions to catch the needle thread and form the loops which are ravelable only because the looper is not threaded.

In Fig. 11, wherein a fragmentary view of a certain Singer single needle lock stitch machine is shown, there is, the throat plate 35, the feed dog 36, the presser foot 31, needle 38, bobbin case 39 and bobbin 4|. As previously stated, when such a machine is used, the bobbin thread or string is eliminated, only the needle string being used.

It will be understood, of course, that while, in general, it is highly advisable to utilize existing types of sewing machines, any other machines which function to produce a row of ravelable loops in a fabric material or the like may be employed in the practice of my method and for the production of drawstring bags and blanks and fabric strips for use in the production of complete drawstring bags.

In the commercial practice of the invention, it is advantageous to practice the invention by continuously feeding a web of fabric material or the like through the sewing machine or other ravelable loop-forming device and, thereafter, continuously iolding thematerial adjacent the row of loops to form the hem. This may be done in various ways as, for example, by alining the loop-forming machine with the hemming machine so that immediately upon the formation of the row of loops the hemming is effected. It is also advantageous to set up the equipment so that, after the hemming operation, the cutting of the material into the desired lengths for the making of the bags can be carried out mechanically and in a continuous operation.

While I have described my invention in detail, it will be understood that no unnecessary limitations should be read thereinto, the scope of the invention being pointed out in the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a method of manufacturing drawstring bags, the steps which comprise, forming in a web of material near an edge thereof a row of connected ravelable loops of string spaced so closely that a plurality of such ravelable loops are present in a single bag blank, folding said material adjacent said row of ravelable loops to form a hem and sewing said hem whereby to leave said row of ravelable loops protruding outside said hem with the connecting portions of string forming said ravelable loops inside the hem.

2. In a method of manufacturing drawstring bags, the steps which comprise, forming in a web of material near an edge thereof a row of connected ravelable loops of string spaced so closely that a plurality of such ravelable loops are present in a single bag blank, folding said material adjacent said row of ravelable loops to form a hem, sewing said hem whereby to leave said row of ravelable loops protruding outside said hem with the connecting portions of string forming said ravelable loops inside the hem, cutting said material into bag blanks, each having a plurality of ravelable loops, and sewing the bag blank along appropriate edges for completing the bag.

3. Ina method of manufacturing drawstring bags, the steps which comprise, forming in a Web of material near an edge thereof a row of connected ravelable loops of string spaced so closely that a plurality of such ravelable loops are present in a single bag blank, folding said material adjacent said row of ravelable loops to form a hem, sewing said hem whereby to leave said row of ravelable loops protruding outside said hem with the connecting portions of string forming said ravelable loops inside the hem, cutting said material into bag blanks, each having a plurality of ravelable loops, sewing the bag blank along appropriate edges for completing the bag, and. pulling on the ends of the string forming the ravelable loops whereby the loops are unraveled or straightened, the string forming the same becomes enclosed within the hem and the extra length of string resulting from straightening the ravelable loops extends outside of the bag.

4. In a method of manufacturing drawstring bags, the steps which comprise, forming in a web of material near an edge thereof a row of connected ravelable loops of string spaced about 3 to 8 of such ravelable loops per lineal inch so that a plurality of such ravelable loops are present in a single bag blank, folding said material adjacent said row of ravelable loops to form a hem and sewing said hem whereby to leave said row of ravelable loops protruding outside said hem with the connecting portions of string forming said ravelable loops inside the hem.

5. A fabric bag provided with a hem at its top and a row of connected ravelable loops of string protruding outside of the hem with the connecting portions of the string forming said ravelable loops inside the hem, said ravelable loops being adapted to be unraveled or straightened by pulling on the ends of the string whereby said string becomes enclosed in said hem and the extra length of string resulting from straightening-said ravelable loops extends outside of the hem.

6. An article adapted to be formed into draw- 6. string bags comprising, a web of fabric having a hem along an edge thereof and adapted to be cutinto bag blanks, and a row of connected ravelable loops of string protruding outside of the hem near the edge of said hemmed fabric with the connecting portions of the string forming said ravelable loops being inside the hem, and ravelable loops being so closely spaced that a plurality of such ravelable loops are present in a single bag blank, and said ravelable loops being adapted to be unraveled or straightened by pulling on the ends of the string whereby said string becomes enclosed in said hem and. the extra length of string resulting from straightening said ravelable loops extends outside of the hem.

'7. A bag blank for making a draw string bag comprising a fabric blank having a hem along an edge thereof and adapted to be sewed into a bag, and a row of connected ravelable loops of string protruding outside of the hem near the edge of the hemmed blank with the connecting portions of the string forming said ravelable loops inside the hem, and said ravelable loops being adapted to be unraveled or straightened by pulling on the ends of the stringwhereby said string becomes enclosed in said hem and the extra length of string resulting from straightening said ravelable loops extends outside of the hem.

JULIUS ABLER.

REFERENCES. CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,861,864 Kennedy June '7, 1932 1,920,822 West Aug. 1, 1933 1,920,823 West Aug. 1, 1933 1,920,824 West Aug. 1, 1933 

